


Baby Diary - Nineteenth Month - Guys Gone Shopping

by mistressterably



Series: No rest for the wicked [31]
Category: The Thick of It (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 04:40:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12073710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistressterably/pseuds/mistressterably





	Baby Diary - Nineteenth Month - Guys Gone Shopping

Malcolm hugged Gracie before she ran off to her friends at the pre-school. Mia, holding onto Alastair’s hand waved to her younger sister. ‘I have to get to school, daddy.’

‘Let’s hustle then. Up you get, Alec. Want a ride?’

‘Ride! Yeah!’ The little boy was talking more now and reached up for Malcolm to lift the young boy up onto his shoulders. He had little hands soon gripping his hair. One of his hands was taken over by Mia as they quickly walked the few blocks to the grade school that Mia attended. 

‘Bye bye, Mi mi!’ Alastair waved at his sister from his perch on Malcolm’s shoulders as she ran off to her own classmates.

‘Just us guys now, Alec.’ Malcolm reached up for his son to take hold of his hands. ‘How about we go to the shops?’

‘Horsey!’ Alastair kicked his legs against Malcolm’s shoulders. 

‘Yes, sir. I’m your horse.’ Malcolm chuckled and his long stride was soon taking them along the road towards the high street. For part of the walk, one of the other parent’s walked with them and chatted with Malcolm and Alastair until they headed down a side street to their own home. 

As they got to the entrance of the large M&S shop, Malcolm lifted Alastair from his shoulders and then knelt to look at his son right in the eye. ‘Right, lad. Rules.’ Malcolm lifted up a hand. ‘You always hang on to my hand.’ 

‘Yeah!’ Alastair smacked his hand against Malcolm’s and giggled as Malcolm tightened his grip on his son’s small hand.

‘No putting things in your mouth.’

Alastair put a hand over his mouth and nodded.

‘You listen to what I tell you.’

‘Yeah, daddy.’ 

‘Good. Let’s shop.’ 

Malcolm, with little Alastair’s hand in his, went inside the shop and got a large shopping bag to carry his goods in. He’d tried using carts in the past but Alastair just wanted to do the pushing all the time and put up a fuss every time he didn’t get to. Easier to sling a bag over his shoulder and just hang onto the boy’s hand. Malcolm pulled out the list of things that Dani had asked him to pick up. It was the usual list of small items that the girls were constantly needing to have replaced. In the clothing department, Malcolm was soon picking up a range of little pink frilly socks and matching knickers. Before deciding on anything he always asked Alastair what he thought. 

‘You think Gracie will like these?’ Malcolm asked the boy, holding up a pair of pink socks with little kittens on them.

‘Kitty.’ The boy reached for them with his little hand. ‘Kitty!’

‘Okay, we’ll get these for Gracie.’ A few aisles over, Malcolm was quickly slipping packs of underwear into the shopping bag too. At the end of the aisle was a display of tops that were on sale. ‘Oh look at these, Alec. You think Mia would like one?’

‘Mi mi.’ Alastair repeated his sister’s name and then pointed at a little yellow top with suns on them.

‘A sunny shirt for your sunny sister?’ 

‘Mi mi!’ The boy reached for the shirt but it was out of reach for him. Malcolm got it and handed it to his son. Alastair hugged it close to him. ‘Mi mi.’

‘Definitely for Mia.’ He smiled at his son and got the shirt from him and placed it in the shopping bag. ‘What one would Gracie like?’

The boy looked up at the tops and pointed to one with soft purple stars on it.’Ahsee!’

‘Gracie.’ Malcolm prompted his son to try and say his sister’s name right.

‘Gahsee!’ 

‘Better at least.’ Malcolm smiled at the boy, ruffling his hair. ‘You want a new shirt too?’ The boy was already finished looking at clothes though and tugging his father’s hand towards a display of toys. ‘No, no new toys, lad.’ 

‘No.’ Alastair parrotted his father but kept tugging. 

‘No.’ Malcolm tightened his hand on the boy’s hand and it got the boy’s attention away from the toys. ‘Thank you.’ 

‘Wecome, daddy.’ 

‘Now, daddy needs some new socks too.’ Malcolm was leading Alastair towards the men’s department. His son was quick to point to some garishly coloured stripe socks. 

‘Daddy! Socks!’ 

‘These ones, Alec?’ Malcolm stifled a laugh as his son jumped up and down happily. 

‘Yeah!’ 

‘Okay. I’ll get these ones then. Your mommy is going to like them too, I’m sure.’ 

Father and son continued to walk through the store. It was just Malcolm’s luck that in order to get to the kitchen accessories he had to walk past the women’s department. It was even worse luck that McNiall’s wife was there doing some shopping. Having been trapped into talking to her about their kids and general pleasantries. 

‘Mommy!’ Alastair was pulling away from Malcolm suddenly. 

‘Alec. Stop that.’ Malcolm turned back to Mrs. McNiall. ‘Sorry about this.’ 

‘Mommy!’ The boy slipped his hand out of Malcolm’s and beelined down the aisle behind them. It was the brassiere display with lines of bras in various colours and sizes. ‘Mommy!’ The boy grabbed one with both hands, squeezing the cups of the bra.

‘Alec!’ Malcolm went red at the sight of his son clutching a bra that matched precisely with a pair that Dani wore around the house after the kids were in bed usually. Alastair, still not at an age where he would sleep regularly, often saw his mother walking about just wearing it. 

‘How cute.’ Mrs. McNiall smiled at the boy as he moved to another bra and began to clutch at it.

‘Mommy!’ The boy beamed up at his father, his little hands grabbing the beige coloured bra off the rack to hold it up. ‘Get!’

‘Alec, no.’

‘Yeah! Mommy!’

‘I’ll leave you to argue with your son, Mr. Tucker.’ Mrs. McNiall smiled and left Malcolm red-faced with embarrassment. 

Malcolm knelt down and took the bra from his son. ‘You think mommy would like this?’

‘Yeah.’ Alastair smiled at his father and then randomly threw his arms around Malcolm to hug his father. ‘Daddy.’

‘You win, lad. You win.’


End file.
